An increased effort has been directed toward the development of chips for molecular detection. In general, a molecular detection chip includes a substrate on which an array of binding sites is arranged. Each binding site, or hybridization site, has a respective molecular receptor which binds or hybridizes with a molecule having a predetermined structure.
A sample solution is applied to the molecular detection chip, and molecules in the sample bind or hybridize at one or more of the binding sites. The particular binding sites at which hybridization occurs are detected, and one or more molecular structures within the sample are subsequently deduced.
Of great interest are molecular detection chips for gene sequencing. These chips, often referred to as DNA chips, utilize an array of selective binding sites each having respective single-stranded DNA probes. A sample of single-stranded DNA fragments, referred to as target DNA, is applied to the DNA chip. The DNA fragments attach to one or more of the DNA probes by a hybridization process. By detecting which DNA probes have a DNA fragment hybridized thereto, a sequence of nucleotide bases within the DNA fragment can be determined.
To hasten the hybridization process, a local concentration of target DNA can be increased at predetermined sites using electric field enhancements. Here, each site has an electrode associated therewith for selectively generating an electric field thereby. The electric field is generated by applying an electric potential between an electrode at the site and a counter electrode at a peripheral portion of the chip. To attract DNA fragments to the site, the polarity of the electric potential is selected to generate an electric field having a polarity opposite to the charge of the DNA fragments. To dehybridize the site, an electric field having the same polarity as the DNA fragments can be generated to repel the DNA fragments from the site.
Various approaches have been utilized to detect a hybridization event at a binding site. In some systems, a fluorescence or a scattering of light associated with the hybridization event is optically sensed to detect the hybridization event. A difficulty with this approach is in the differentiation of the fluorescence or scattering associated with the hybridization from background fluorescent or scatter light. To achieve a sufficient signal-to-noise quantity, expensive optical detectors such as confocal microscopes or cooled CCD cameras are utilized.